By Joe Atkinson
Vale, Oregon
When I say “dragon” I am, of course, referring to the golden eagle; in my opinion, the finest hunting partner a falconer can have. Notice I said hunting partner, not falconry bird or just plain bird. That’s because, once trained, golden eagles become almost dog-like in the way they love to hunt and in their loyalty to their hunting buddy. If handled correctly, the golden eagle will form a partnership with the falconer that will last a lifetime.
Over time, the most popular way golden eagles have been hunted is off-the-fist. Regardless of where you are in the world, this style of hunting is very similar, falconers walking through a field looking to flush hares or, in our case, jackrabbits, while carrying their eagles on the fist. The main difference between how the European falconers fly their eagles and how US falconers fly eagles is that, in Europe, eagles are flown out of the hood, meaning they sit on the fist hooded until the flush is made. In the US, however, eagles are carried on the fist unhooded. Why is that, you ask? Well, it’s really quite simple. European hares will hold very tight in their forms or starting blocks, as I like to call them, like a sprinter at the starting line waiting for the gun to go off to start the race. In fact, they hold so tight that once, while I was in Opochino in the Czech Republic attending an eagle meet, I actually crawled up to a hiding hare on my hands and knees and grabbed it. I couldn’t hold on to the bugger as they are rather large, like our white- tails, but, to my point, you’re not going to crawl up to a jackrabbit anytime soon. In fact, the few jackrabbits that I have spotted while in their form over the years held there until our eyes met and then off they went.
In Europe, the hunting party of falconers, each holding their eagle, lines up side-by-side and walks the field. When a hare is spotted someone calls out and the falconer next in line to fly walks over and gets ready to unhood his or her eagle. Someone in the group then flushes the hare and the flight is had. Here in the states, our jackrabbits can explode from anywhere without warning and are gone at full speed. There is zero time to unhood your eagle. I tried flying my first eagle out of the hood, because all the books said this is how eagles are flown, and it put my eagle at a severe disadvantage. In addition, jackrabbits run great distances, whereas the European hares I saw ran out of gas after a couple of hundred yards. There is a simple reason for the stamina of our jackrabbits, they have to run for so long because they’re hunted by coyotes. European hares have not had to deal with “Mr. Wil- E Coyote” and, therefore, have no need to run for miles.
There are three ways to fly a dragon: off-the-fist, as I have already described, slope soaring and waiting-on. The whole idea of hunting a golden eagle in a more natural style like slope soaring or waiting-on is relatively new. I know of a few friends that have slope soared their golden eagles in Europe, but it can become problematic. In Scotland, for example, there are so few wild golden eagles that the mountain blue hares they fly at move around, not paying particular attention to eagles. Also, the blue hare is actually nearly all white and lives in the heather, which is short and dark red, so they stand out like a sore thumb. Eagles can see them from miles away and this may entice them to start self-hunting. In a short time, the falconer may lose control of the hunt and the eagle as well. In the US, jackrabbits are hunted all the time by wild goldens and therefore sit tight when an eagle is in the area.
Slope soaring is a much more natural way to hunt than off-the-fist, you just need to find a hillside that has jacks on it. Your eagle can then course back and forth across the hillside, riding the air much like a surfer rides a wave. Although this is a very cool way to fly your eagle, the problem is that you are, for the most part, limited to that particular hillside, and if there is nothing to hunt there you are out of luck. You are also at the mercy of the wind direction. If it is blowing the wrong direction you may not be able to fly that day.
Hunting your dragon in the waiting-on style, circling overhead like a huge falcon, is a much more versatile method and will produce some of the most jaw-dropping flights you will ever see. This method, in my opinion, is flying a golden eagle at the highest level. A waiting-on eagle is hunting as close to the natural way wild eagles hunt as a trained bird can get. Having your eagle circling overhead like a black shark, waiting for the flush, is an almost indescribable experience. Like all long-wingers, when I am flying my falcons, I am constantly worried what is going to eat my falcon. When I am flying my eagle, however, I am constantly worried what my eagle is going to eat. It’s a weird contrast, for sure.
My female golden eagle, Widow, flies at 9.5 lbs. and waits-on anywhere from 500 to 2,000 ft, although her most effective height is around 800 ft. She will stay in the air for two hours plus or until the dogs tap out and head for the truck. Before I go on, I need to point out that neither of these two styles, slope soaring or waiting-on, would be as successful without the help of dogs. When an eagle is in the air jackrabbits will not move, for obvious reasons. And, when flushed, without the pressure of a dog after them, they simply disappear in the cover and stop running. So, the dogs play a huge role in these two flying methods. I used to come home complaining to my wife, Cordi, that I would have to set the entire hill on fire to get anything to run under Widow! It was clear that what I needed was fast dogs, sight hounds to be exact, dogs that are bred to chase anything that dares move in front of them, like jackrabbits! Once I added dogs, the team was complete.
After some research, the breed I chose was the Tazi. They come from Kazakhstan and have been bred to hunt with eagles. I know! After getting our first Tazi, Zeva, I quickly realized that running at 30 mph through sage, rocks and cactus can cause injuries and, well, no dog, no flight! So, I added two more Tazi’s, Khan and Ayla. Tazi’s are very cool dogs and make a wonderful team. I was surprised how well and how quickly the dogs and my eagle teamed up; they really do hunt together. Zeva, in particular, will constantly look up to check on Widow’s location. Now, whether that’s her simply wanting to know where “that dragon” is, we don’t know. I must admit, the first time Widow and the dogs all came together after a jackrabbit I didn’t know what to expect, was I going to hear a dog screaming or a rabbit. So far, Widow has shown no interest in going after the dogs and follows them overhead wherever they go. And the Tazi’s show Widow a great deal of respect, giving her a wide berth when she is on a jackrabbit or simply on the ground. If challenged by the Tazi’s, Widow would not back down and things could get ugly real fast, let’s just hope that never happens.
I remember thinking, okay, no jackrabbit will ever be able to escape my three freakishly fast dogs and my eagle directly overhead. Well, I’m here to tell you that there is a reason there are so many jackrabbits. At times, they can make my team look silly, easily alluding them and getting away. Jacks are masters at speed and, most notably, disappearing in the sage.
Soaring a waiting-on golden eagle in Europe is, for the most part, not possible, way too many people and not enough open spaces. The folks I know across the pond say it just won’t work. But for us in the western states, we are blessed with more open ground than a person could drive in a lifetime. It’s called BLM, public lands, and every falconer and lover of wildlife and wild places should fight to keep the BLM in operation. Now, I’m not a total lover of the BLM, but it sure beats the alternative — only private land and no access!
European eagles are all domestically bred and are bought just like we buy falcons, find a breeder and pay your money. Not for us. Golden eagles are not allowed to be bred in captivity. All I will say is that, if the powers that be would just allow the eagles already in captivity to be bred, all their (USFWS) problems regarding eagle falconry would be over! This isn’t a complicated issue, and it could be solved with a little common sense. But then, hoping that USFWS will use common sense is, well, not likely to happen.
Just how difficult it is to obtain a golden eagle to fly here in the US is a subject for a book, not an article. Please don’t get me started on all the ridiculous hoops one has to jump through, both with USFWS and the various states, for the very limited access we have to eagles. The US eagle falconer, except through very specific circumstances, can only get a wild-trapped passage eagle. And they are wonderful birds, very different from the domestic eagles our European counterparts get. The domestic eagle will need to learn and practice how to soar, handle thermals and maintain lift. A passage eagle already knows how to soar and getting your eagle to wait-on is easier than you might think. The trick is getting it to stay with you and your dogs, that’s a little more difficult.
So, what is it like to fly a dragon? It’s like nothing else you have ever experienced in your falconry life. For instance, Widow will go over two miles away looking for a thermal. That’s when my longwing buddys start to get a little nervous, they don’t want their falcons going off like that and neither do I, but hey, she’s a female golden eagle and queen of the skies. She will mount up to the height she wants which, at times, can be 3,000 ft or more, and then will come back over me and the dogs, maintaining that height. Once over us, she will begin to circle overhead. If the lift at my location dies out, she’ll go off and find another thermal and come back over again. She has gone as high as 12,344 ft and her fastest speed so far was 167 mph.
Here is a flight from my hawking journal that I thoroughly enjoyed:
5/15/19
Widow 9.6 lbs.
Temp: 73
Wind: 2 mph
Location: secret
Max height: 1,543 ft
Max speed: 135 mph
I wanted to get the team loaded up and on the road as soon as possible. I could feel the heat building the second I walked out of the house. I put Widow on the scale and she was 9.6 lbs., which actually didn’t matter, I would fly her regardless of her weight.
The thing about flying out on BLM ground is that you can never be sure what you’re going to find. I was winding my way through the sage along the dusty, rock-filled road heading to one of my favorite areas when, on my right, in a gap between two tall sage bushes, I see a pair of blue jeans hanging on a barbed wire fence. I stopped for a brief moment and wondered to myself how in the heck those got there or, better yet, what in the heck went on there. Then I thought I’d just as soon not know and drove on. The area I was heading to is down the far side of this large bench that overlooks several hundred acres of sage-covered flat, broken up with some rolling washes every now and again. The sage, for the most part, is nearly waist high but the washes have a light green colored bitter brush covered with long thorns, that is taller and not much fun to walk through. The road deteriorates into something barely visible, with lots of rocks. If I hadn’t driven down this trail before, leaving tire tracks, you’d be hard pressed to know it was possible to drive it at all. The fence goes off sharply to the right and very quickly removes itself from any possible issue for fast running dogs and a stooping eagle. I wired Widow up and she jumped off my arm landing on a sage bush close to the truck. She is scanning a mile or more across the valley floor below, looking for thermals. She roused her entire body, sending a few down feathers off into the warm rising air. I watched them being pulled up and away, set free from her body. I watched until I could no longer see them in the blue sky. There is a lot of lift today, this should be fun.
I never know how long Widow will sit looking for the right conditions, could be 2 minutes or 30 minutes, it’s up to her, she won’t be rushed. Widow pushed off the sage bush and flew away. I could see the lift pulling her upwards as she gained speed. She kept moving farther and farther out across the valley, at times being lifted a hundred or more feet by the up-rising air. It wasn’t until she started to circle that I knew she’d found what she was looking for, and, with each circle, Widow was pulled higher and higher up into the blue sky. I checked my GPS and it said she was 1.5 miles away and still climbing at 800 ft. I jumped the dogs out of the truck and they milled around doing dog stuff, waiting for me to head out into the desert. In the meantime, Widow had reached her cruising altitude of 1,543 ft and was coming our way. Okay, let’s go. The three Tazi’s and I moved out. Ayla is always our advance scout, out in front or off to either side. Khan usually stays in the middle, keeping a close eye on Ayla, as we all do, because she usually finds the most jacks. Zeva, well, she generally keeps close to me, looking for something to catch and eat; she’s a tad bit feral. We walked on, searching for a flush, stopping every so often to check on Widow’s location. The long-winger in me wants her right overhead or close to it. If she drifts too far off, she will not be as effective, so the dogs and I have learned to stop and wait for Widow to come back over. Widow’s shadow flashed across the ground in front of us and, without a word, we all started moving, looking for that moment when a jackrabbit appears from nothing and all hell breaks loose. The thing about hunting for jacks is the anticipation, any step can be the one that flushes one, you never know when or where. Without warning, a jackrabbit darted out from its form and accelerated straight away from me. I hollered “ho”, and all three dogs looked in my direction, saw the jack and hit the jets. Khan is our fastest runner, Cordi calls him our cheetah dog, and he closed in on the jack from the left side. Zeva came up the middle behind the speedy rabbit and Ayla flanked the jack on the right side. Feeling the pressure of the three dogs, the jackrabbit pinned its ears and shifted into warp speed, putting a little distance between itself and two of the Tazis. But not Khan, he was still gaining ground. The jack headed up a slight rise and turned to the right, using all the tricks in the book to shake this freakishly fast dog. With Khan moving up on the left side and Ayla coming fast on the right, they had the jack in a great spot between them. All this time Widow was coming in hot; I could see her adjusting her stoop angle until she felt she had it correct and then folded up and let her speed build. The sound is like nothing you’ve ever heard; it is the sound of speed! At the last moment Widow dropped her feet and leveled off, coming right up between the two Tazi’s to scoop up the jack, flying with it for a hundred plus feet before landing. She looked at the two dogs as if to say, “I got this”.
The three dogs all looked for some shade and laid down under a sage bush. As I arrived on the scene, Widow was busy pulling fur from her prize and happily ate most of the jackrabbit. The Tazi’s would get their share as well, nothing is wasted.
End of entry.
Flying a golden eagle is not for everyone, for sure. You need to live in the right place, have access to, what I call, eagle country, i.e., lots of open space, and you need game to fly at. But if you do land yourself a dragon, I highly recommend flying it in the waiting-on style. You will be in for the ride of a lifetime.